10 attractions in hong kong

SINGAPORE: Cruise passenger traffic in Singapore has fallen by 52 per cent year-on-year since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak on Jan 23, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said as it pledged to give the industry more support. “The COVID-19 outbreak has had a serious impact on the cruise industry, both in Singapore and globally,” STB’s director, cruise Annie Chang told CNA, stating that it has received 81 COVID-19 related cancelled ship calls since Jan 23. From Jan 23 to Mar 9, the agency said Singapore handled a total of 65 cruise calls and 156,465 passengers. Beyond the drop in passenger traffic, COVID-19 has roiled the global cruise industry as countries turn away cruises amid fears they were acting as floating Petri dishes for the coronavirus. READ: Floating Petri dishes? Coronavirus puts cruise industry in the dock The Diamond Princess cruise , carrying 3,700 passengers and crew, was quarantined at a Japanese port on Feb 4 after a guest, who didn’t have symptoms … [Read more...] about Cruise passenger traffic in Singapore down 52% since COVID-19 outbreak; STB to give industry more support

SIAM REAP: As dawn breaks the unmistakable tapered towers of Angkor Wat emerge from the gloom - but for once there are no tourists jostling on its steps to capture Cambodia's most famous sunrise. Asia's most Instagrammable sites - temples, promenades, shopping streets, museums and mausoleums - are empty, victims of a virus keeping visitors at home. The usual crowds have evaporated from Sensoji temple in Tokyo to Shanghai's Bund; abandoning the viewpoint at The Peak in Hong Kong and alleviating the pedestrian crush along Sydney Harbour. Many of the now vanished visitors are from China - a country whose travellers have completely reshaped the tourist economies of Asia over the last few years, yet where only around 10 per cent of the population hold passports. At the Angkor Wat complex, a 12th century marvel of Khmer architecture whose unique crenellations and reliefs lure millions each year, high season has brought the lowest number of tourists on record. Chinese-speaking … [Read more...] about Visitors vanish from Asia’s most visited sites

Red Spring Festival expects to collect over 4,000 blood units Young people donate their blood In his opening remarks, Director of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) Bach Quoc Khanh, who is head of the festival’s organizing board, said that the festival has been held annually since 2008 to address blood shortages after the lunar New Year holiday, and gradually changed public awareness of blood donation. After 13 editions, the festival has collected over 85,000 blood units and become the annual biggest blood donation event. Khanh took the occasion to express his gratitude for donators nationwide. The 14th edition is taking place from March 1-7 at the NIHBT headquarters, and three fixed places - 26 Luong Ngoc Quyen in Hoan Kiem district, 132 Quan Nhan in Thanh Xuan district, and Valley 122 of Lang Street in Dong Da district. The organizing board expects to receive over 4,000 blood units during this year’s festival, which then will … [Read more...] about VIETNAM NEWS HEADLINES MARCH 2

SINGAPORE: The emergence of the coronavirus virus could not have come at a worse time for Asian airlines. The Asian airline sector was already struggling with weaker overall financials compared to its European or North American counterparts due to intense competition, overcapacity and the instability in Hong Kong. Despite this, Asian airlines were still in the black overall last year and the outlook for 2020, while not exactly bright, was for continued modest profits. But in just a couple of weeks, the outlook has become downright dismal, with significant losses now likely for at least the first half of the year. REELING FROM A CHINA SHUTDOWN Passenger traffic to and from mainland China, which had been a bright spot in the initial 2020 outlook for both growth and profitability, has virtually ceased. READ: Commentary: Tourism in Asia takes a beating after Wuhan coronavirus outbreak China’s international market is massive and a critical component for most major Asian … [Read more...] about Commentary: Novel coronavirus turns 2020 into a bleak year for Asian airlines

Last spring, coyotes strolled down the streets of San Francisco in broad daylight. Pods of rarely seen pink dolphins cavorted in the waters around Hong Kong. In Tel Aviv, jackals wandered around a city park, a herd of mountain goats took over a town in Wales and porcupines ambled through Rome's ancient ruins. As the canals in Venice turned strangely clear, cormorants started diving for fish, and Canada geese escorted their goslings down the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard, passing empty shops displaying Montblanc pens and Fendi handbags. Nature was expanding as billions of people were retreating from the Covid-19 pandemic. The change was so swift, so striking that scientists needed a new name for it: the anthropause. But the anthropause did more than reconfigure the animal kingdom. It also altered the planet's chemistry. As factories grew quiet and traffic dropped, ozone levels fell by 7 per cent across the northern hemisphere. As air pollution across India dropped by a third, … [Read more...] about The secret life of a coronavirus